I’m back in sunny Copenhagen after a great couple of weeks in London!
I was working with Louis Tomlinson and his band intensely in preparation for his first headline show in Madrid last weekend!
Whilst I was in town I also managing to squeeze in some vocal coaching for Niall Horan and his band too!
In today’s blog I want to talk to you all a little bit about the double P’s.
PERFORMANCE PREPARATION
Performing on stage is the ultimate satisfaction for any artist but how do you really prepare for a show? Here’s the thing.
Preparation is clever, preparation is key, preparation is cool, preparation is diving so deep into your own shizzle that you can only come out shining and smelling of roses on the other side!
Preparation is simply the ONLY WAY an artist/singer/speaker can truly own the stage!
So I am going to share some of my COACHING TIPS with you NOW!
When Niall came to see the XF show last year he came up next to me during one of Dalton’s performances and said to me : “I know exactly what you’re doing - I can see you tuning into every single little note and thing his voice is doing - just like you used to do with us in One Direction”
And that’s exactly it.To be fully prepared you need to go beyond all the levels you normally work at and dive in even deeper .You need to completely take your song apart and then piece it back together again to fully make it your own.
So here goes:
PERFORMANCE PREPARTION QUICK STEP TIPS:
1- Know your lyric and melody.
Make sure you have the bare foundation in place.If you need to look at a piece of paper or think about what note is coming up next you can’t ever get to the good stuff. Know your basic foundation by heart.
2- Decide on your emotion of the song.
What’s it about? What story do you want to tell? Maybe pick a few key words that enhances this message - and give them some special loving.
3- Attack your song from all angles.
Do a take with super exaggerated diction - spit and spell each word out! This boosts and gives the voice and song energy and firmness.
4- Look at your volume.
Are you singing everything in more or less the same volume? That’s going to sound monotonous and won’t rock the boat of an audience.
Imagine you have an inner volume button- play with it as you sing - go all the way from 10 to 1, mix and match it up. Experiment and have fun.
5- What’s your flavour and Tone?
I like to use imagery. Be colourful with your voice. A painting in one colour is not as exciting as a multiple of shades and nuances.
Same goes for your song- make it exciting by trying out different vowel sounds, colours, volumes and emotions.
6- Speak through your song.
No singing. Speak and really listen to how the vowels sound.
Can you change it? Try opening each word. You do that by pretending you’re either yawning / feeling a spot at the back of your head / or even a feeling of “vomiting” with the voice. Rock’n roll.
7- Create your own formular.
Combine all the new energy/enhancements/ notes/colours etc.
8- Repeat.
Repeat repeat repeat your formula until it’s second nature.
Make it part of your DNA- put it deep into your muscle memory-
If you do this it will lead to….
9- Elimination of nerves and stage fright- and totally owning the stage!
Try it- and leave me a comment - let me know how you get on!
Also check out my workshops and I’m coming to you sessions